


Worth The Risk

by Rei382



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Ed being a cocky brat, Ed in the military, M/M, Mild Fluff, but just a little bit in the beginning, non-established relationship, roy being a dork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24424951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rei382/pseuds/Rei382
Summary: Riza was probably right when she told Roy he shouldn't hire Edward as the team's new alchemical accidents inspector.
Relationships: Edward Elric/Roy Mustang
Comments: 6
Kudos: 95





	Worth The Risk

Roy picked up the receiver as he thought, for what seemed like the hundredth time this past hour, that he’d heard it ring, only to hear, yet again, the dial tone. Annoyed, he glared at the phone as if it was the device’s fault that the call he was expecting did not come through yet. Edward should’ve called hours ago, according to Roy’s calculations. The fact that he didn’t yet could only mean that somewhere between the latest update Roy had received about the culprit’s lair being discovered and heading back to central, something went awfully wrong, and Roy’s nerves were at peak attention, waiting to hear something.  _ Anything _ , really.

Four hours ago he received the call that the mission - catching the culprit and retrieving the information about his very illegal work - was completed successfully. Which meant that at most, half an hour after that, his little team, Edward included, were supposed to be on the departing train. The schedule ran one once an hour, so he could count in that they just missed one and had to wait for the next train out. The ride was an hour and a half. That meant that at the worst case scenario, they should’ve been back in Central an hour ago. That’s more than enough spare time to call him and report that they’ve made it and everything was okay.

Realizing he was too anxious to keep sitting down, Roy pushed himself off the office chair and started pacing about the room instead. Hawkeye might have had a point when she suggested not bringing Edward back to the team. He denied all her accusations of him having any sort of inappropriate feelings and decided to recruit Edward as the team’s new alchemical accidents inspector anyway. But now - with the gnawing feeling at his guts that something might’ve gone wrong, much worse than the usual he’d had with his subordinates: not the usual guilt, but something much deeper, darker – he thought there might have been some truth in her words.

He probably should’ve seen this coming. He was no stranger to the dryness of mouth and heat in the stomach induced by physical attraction. And he didn’t deny, at least not to himself and not to Riza, that ever since Edward had come back from the east, all grown up and definitely a man, rather than a boy, he was attracted to him. It would’ve been stupid to try, anyway. He was, unequivocally, extremely handsome. The entire office agreed on that, and on the occasional drinking night shared after a long day at work, the question of how on earth he was still single was raised quite often.

But to go from appreciating another man’s fit form and nice-looking face to – to  _ this _ – that was quite a reach.

Not that he could do anything about it, anyway. Riza’s voice was nagging at the back of his head every time his thoughts had ventured that deeper, more dangerous lane.  _ Fraternization is not only frowned upon, sir. It could get you demoted and kill your chances at ever becoming the Fuhrer. Not to mention it would surely get Edward kicked out of the military, dishonorably, thus damaging his chances of getting a decent job elsewhere. _

And yet here he was, and he could no longer deny that the physical attraction had developed into something deeper and more meaningful.

He hated it when Riza was right. Unfortunately, that happened quite often.

Roy’s mind was racing as he paced about the room, hands locked behind his back. What if something went wrong? What if the culprit escaped their custody after they’d reported to him last? Were they still chasing him now? Based on the reports Roy had received in order to get on this mission, the culprit was a skilled alchemist. Not as good as he was, or as good as Edward was back in the day, but good. Had Edward still had his Fullmetal title, perhaps Roy wouldn’t have been so worried (he ignored the annoying voice that reminded him that in fact, even back then, he was very worried), but now…

Of course, Roy sent him out with a skilled team. Edward’s task wasn’t supposed to involve any fighting at all. He was to collect data and figure out the pattern, nothing more. It was up to the other men – and one woman – to do the fighting and capturing. But logic was far beyond him now as the scenarios that could have led to this delay played in his head, each one worse (and less likely, but that didn’t register in his anxious brain) than its former.

Roy felt his heart beat rising, his breath becoming shallower as the possibilities unfolded in his raging mind. 

A knock on his door tore him away from his grim thoughts. He stopped in his place, hands now dropping at the sides of his body, and looked at the door like a haunted man. Was it someone coming to tell him the mission failed? That his men were hostages?  _ Dead _ ?

He swallowed, but that didn’t help his dry throat. “Come in,” he called, and prepared himself for the worst.

He watched, tense, as the door handle was pushed down. The creak of the door opening painfully slowly felt like the scratching of nails on a board in his overly sensitive mind, torturing him. Had it been another military personnel coming to tell him there was trouble, they would’ve opened the door assertively, decisively. Maybe this was a good sign?

“Heya, Mustang, I came to – what happened?”

When the door was finally open enough to show a healthy,  _ alive,  _ Edward Elric, Roy felt his heart sinking back to its rightful space in his chest. He hadn’t even realized how choked his thoughts had made him feel, how heavy.

“Ed,” the word left his lips like a prayer. He crossed the room at once, any inhibition he’d had before disappearing as if it’d never existed. All that mattered was that Edward was here. He didn’t care that fourteen years separated them. He didn’t care that Edward was his subordinate and anything more than officer-subordinate relationship was not allowed. He barely even cared that he had no idea whether Edward felt the same as he closed the distance towards him and wrapped him in his arms.

Edward tensed in his arms. “Mustang – what? Roy?”

He felt Edward moving slightly against his hold. Not pushing him away, but enough to make Roy get back to his senses. Feeling ashamed, Roy let go of him and took half a step back. Calmer now, he took the sight of him in. Other than looking somewhat flustered, he looked perfectly fine. Not even a scratch on his skin.

Roy cleared his throat, his mind racing again, but now trying to figure out a way to climb out of this hole he’d dug for himself in his panic.

“I’m,” he started, then thought again. There was no excuse for the way he’d just behaved. He cleared his throat, and started again. “I apologize. You’re reporting late,” he said, hearing how fake his official voice sounded. It was an insult to Edward’s intelligence to think he’d buy it – but he could always try. He took another step backwards.

“Yeah. Figured I’d take a shower first,” Edward replied, his words drawing a bit slower than his usual speech. He was still looking at Roy suspiciously, but he took the necessary step into Roy’s office and closed the door behind him. Roy immediately took another step backwards, recreating the distance. “Since it’s not even six yet I didn’t think it’d be an issue. The, uh, documents were buried in the ground.”

“I see,” Roy said. He could still feel the tension in the air between them, even heavier now that the door was closed. He felt silly, now, for being so worried. It was only an hour’s delay. Edward just stopped at his home to take a shower. There was absolutely no reason to panic like he did.

“But I got them,” Edward continued. He reached for his case, opening it and pulling out some papers. He handed them to Roy. “Figured out what you wanted. I’ll write that in the full report, though.”

“Great. Thank you, Edward,” Roy said, and reached to take the documents from Edward’s hands. His movement felt stiff as he did everything he could to try and avoid touching Edward’s hand, and of course, ending up placing his hand entirely on his. He hissed a swear before he could stop himself, taking his hand back as if he’d just touched burning fire. “I’m sorry,” he apologized as he crouched down to pick up the dropped documents. Something was obviously off with him today. He could blame his bumpy sleep all he wants, but he knew that the ball of nerves in his stomach had nothing to do with lack of sleep and everything to do with Edward’s presence in his office right now, after Roy had an almost mental break-down thinking about all the things that could go wrong.

He grabbed the documents, a thick binder that seemed to contain something like a short book in it, and straightened up. Roy opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a since syllable, Edward beat him to it.

“What’s up with you, Mustang?” he demanded, and Roy lifted his gaze from the floor – where the documents lay just a moment ago – to see him standing in front of him, his posture full of defiance with his arms crossed over his chest.

But was it also a light flush he could see to his cheeks?

Roy’s mind raced for an excuse. “It’s been a long day,” he replied eventually. It wasn’t exactly a lie, so he didn’t feel like he was deceiving Edward. It wasn’t the whole truth, either. Partial truth, a politician’s dearest friend.

“Mmhm,” was Edward’s response, but his posture didn’t change. It seemed that he was examining Roy, attempting to look into the depths of his dark soul. “Maybe. But that’s not what I meant.” His arms dropped to the sides of his body as he took a step closer. Roy felt like he was at a press conference and the reporters were searching for his weaknesses like vultures waiting for their prey to have a moment’s slip so they can launch in and end it. “You’ve had worse days than this. I know that. I’ve been there with you,” he said, and continued to look at Roy curiously. “But ever since I came back you’ve been acting differently than I remembered. I thought it was just your old age making you extra emotional, or something like that,” Roy tried not to be offended by this, but failed as he saw Edward’s smirk sneaking to his lips. “But I’ve had some, uh, other theories. I thought I was going crazy or that I was imagining things, but I think…” he paused. He was now standing inches away from Roy, who felt his heart being so hard at the base of his throat that he was almost certain Edward could hear it, too. “I think it’s not just wishful thinking, on my side. You know what I mean?”

Roy blinked, then swallowed, trying to get his heart back to his chest, where it belonged. “I do not know what you’re talking about, Colonel Elric.”

“‘Colonel Elric’?” He knew he’d made a fatal mistake when Edward’s eyebrow arched up. “Liar.”

Roy tried to think, but it was a very difficult task in his current state and with Edward’s close proximity. Should he tell him the truth? That would be devastating. All the implications that stopped Roy from acting until now, all the reasons Hawkeye didn’t want him getting Edward on his team from the very beginning. He couldn’t tell him the truth. No matter how much he wanted to. No matter how much it seemed that even without saying it, Edward knew it.

But how could he explain his behavior just now?

“I think you know perfectly well what I meant.” Edward stayed where he was. He seemed oblivious, or ignorant to the way he made Roy feel, standing so close Roy could feel his body heat radiating. “What if I told you that I feel the same? That I’ve been thinking about it since the day I came back?” Roy could hear the slight shakiness to his voice, telling him that Edward was as nervous as Roy felt. But his stare hadn’t faltered.

For a moment, that at least for Roy felt very long, they stared at each other. Roy didn’t know what to say. His brain was as in as much of a turmoil as it was before Edward showed up; only of a different kind. He could, and probably  _ should _ , say that they shouldn’t. All the reasons – the very important reasons – why this was a bad idea kept nagging him in Riza’s very rational voice. But it was very hard to listen when something he’d wanted for months was offered to him on a silver platter like that. 

He knew he didn’t even have to say anything. It would be enough to just close whatever little distance was left between them, lower himself just a little bit (because even though Edward had certainly grown, the fact that he’d spent the most important growth years of his life supporting two bodies had left its mark), and take what he was offered.

Apparently he took too long to make up his mind and Edward decided he need some extra persuasion, or Edward took his lack of response as an invitation; either way, the next thing Roy knew was that a pair of warm, hoarse lips had captured his own and any thought about possible repercussion were pushed back, behind the back door of Roy’s brain, locked out. His mind was wiped clean other than the feeling of wet warmth against his lips.

It took probably only a few seconds, but the kiss felt much longer to Roy. It left him breathless despite being only a short moment long. He opened his eyes, not realizing that he’d even closed them, and looked at Edward. He was still standing inches away from him, still gazing at him with that same penetrating stare. But now his cheeks were a little flushed, his breath seemed to be a little faster, much like Roy’s.

As his breath slowly returned to him, so did the thoughts, concerns and fears that had stopped him from doing just that until now. He knew that if they were caught, he’d go through a disciplinary hearing, and most likely be fined and demoted a rank or two. And Edward… it was more likely than not that he would be moved to another division, at best, or dishonorably discharged, at worst. There was no doubt, now, that they both wanted the same thing; but was it worth the price?

Edward lifted his face a little, as if examining Roy’s expression. Did he know what Roy was thinking about? Was he aware of all the possible consequences, if they decided to start a relationship? He was probably pleased with what he saw, either unaware of the fight going on in Roy’s head, or simply unconcerned by it. A smirk crept onto his lips, as if he knew what Roy would end up deciding.

“You know where to find me, when you make up your mind,” he said. He delayed a moment longer before he turned on his heels and walked out of Roy’s office, leaving him to stare at his distancing back.

Roy kept watching as he closed the door behind him. His lips still burnt from the feeling of Edward’s mouth on them, and for a moment, it felt like being able to kiss Edward was worth all the risks in the world. He relaxed his hold on the file, well aware that the way he clenched on them would leave dents in the paper, and walked towards his desk to place it there.

Riza would scold him so bad when she found out.


End file.
